The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced that the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation, ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board and International Accreditation New Zealand joined the DHS laboratory accreditation efforts.

“We look forward to working with these accreditation organizations to ensure public-safety agencies can tell which P25 equipment is genuinely interoperable," said David Boyd, director of S&T’s Office for Interoperability and Compatibility, which leads the P25 effort that develops standards for radios and other equipment to interoperate regardless of manufacturer.

To date, accreditation of P25 CAP laboratories had been conducted solely by the U.S. Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The three accreditation organizations joining the efforts will help sustain the program and enhance overall interoperability for the first responder community.

DHS and NIST will continue to work with partner accreditation organizations to develop program guideline documents, furthering the P25 CAP mission of sustainability.

The CAP program has been in transition this year, and DHS received responses to a Federal Register notice inquiring about the interest of accreditation bodies to participate. The third-party accreditation bodies will then oversee re-accrediting the current eight labs, all of which have been grandfathered into the new oversight body.

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